Hall of Fake Presidents

In these divided political times, it can be tough to muster patriotism even among Washington D.C.’s breathtaking memorials to Lincoln and Washington. But a little farther away from the monuments and government buildings, you can find a Hall of Presidents devoted to American leaders too heroic to be real—because they aren’t.

Regally displayed in the cinema lobby, Alamo Drafthouse’s Hall of Presidents includes a dozen fictional U.S. Presidents from popular films. This is a bipartisan gallery that includes beloved leaders like Morgan Freeman in Deep Impact and Harrison Ford in Air Force One, to more polarizing Commanders-in-Chief like Peter Sellers in Dr. Strangelove and President Camacho himself: Terry Crews in Idiocracy. The hall’s centerpiece is a life-sized statue of President Whitmore (Bill Pullman) from Independence Day, framed by an engraving of his patriotic speech from that film.

The exhibit leads to the Highbinder, a lobby bar whose name refers to a dishonest politician. Indeed, authentic politicians are hard to come by inside the Beltway. So why not visit a monument devoted to our favorite fake ones?